1.

The territory- holder surges forward, churning the water into

froth with his tail.
a. What or who is being talked about?
b. What does he surge forward towards? With what intention?
c. What are the two possible results?

a) The male gharial that controls that part of the river is being
talked about here.
b) He is surging towards another male gharial who wants to take
over his territory. He wants to scare him the other gharial away.
c) The other male gharial will retreat in fear or the two male
gharials will fight with their snouts clashing like swords in the
air one of them prevails over the other.

2. Her thirty-six babies followed, rather like ducklings.

a. Whose babies? Whom did they follow?
b. Where did they go from where?
c. In what way was this unusual?

a) The babies of a female gharial are being referred here. They

follow their mother.
b) They went from their buried nests towards the river.
c) This was unusual because the babies need to be carried to
the river by their mothers. The mothers take hours to help
their babies reach the water. They sometimes mistakenly
carry rocks, egg shells even baby turtles instead of their own
young ones. This was also unusual as it changed a dangerous
animal into a caring parent.
Answer these questions:
Q1. What were Whitaker and his team going to do with the eggs?
Why?
They wanted to rear the baby gharials in captivity, so that they could
ensure that they would survive and release them in protected areas
when they are adults and fend for themselves.
This was to keep the young gharials safe from predators and from
human interference to ensure that they survive because their
dwindling numbers have become a cause for concern for the
conservationists.

Q2. Was their work part of a larger project? What project? What
made it necessary?
Yes, it was. It was part of Project Crocodile which was set up in 1974
by the Indian Government with the help from the UN. The project
was initiated to counter the rapid decline of the gharials and related
crocodilian species in the Indian sub-continent.